Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Page 67

ÓPERSÓNLIG SAGNORÐ í FØROYSKUM
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pletive construction, see also Dative Sub-
ject Constructions.
(5a) is a common DSC with the verb
dáma ‘to like’. This verb is extremely fre-
quent in spoken Faroese, and it is not un-
common for people to have dative subjects
in front of dáma ‘to like’ 4, although nomi-
native is just as common.
The subject in (5a) is in the dative, the
verb in 3 person singular, and the object in
accusative. Nominative subjects are also
frequent with this verb. An example would
be (5b). Note that the synonym verb líka ‘to
like’ may take a dative subject (5c), bul
never occurs together with nominative case
(5d). We note also further the use of an ex-
pletive in (5e). Note in addition to this (5f),
where we find a dative subject and a nomi-
native object, that is, the pattern in Ice-
landic (and Japanese, Ura, 2000), even
though accusative is the usual object case in
impersonal construction (Barnes, 1986).
(5) a. mær dámar mjólkina
me-dat. likes-3sg. milk-the-acc.
‘I like the milk’
b. eg dámi mjólkina
I-nom. like-lsg. milk-the-acc.
c. mær líkar mjólkina
me-dat. likes-3sg. milk-the-acc.
‘I like the milk’
d. *eg líki mjólkina
I-nom. like-lsg. milk-the-acc.
‘I like the milk’
e. Tað líkar mær
it likes-3sg. me-dat.
f. mær eydnaðist gongutúrurin
me-dat. succeeded walk-the-nom.
‘the walk turned out OK for me’
Summarizing the data we see that the fol-
lowing changes have occurred in Faroese:
(i) There are some archaic expressions
with accusative subjects (la), although
we may as a rule say that these are ruled
out, and we see nominative subjects in-
stead (lb).
(ii) In some archaic expressions we see
ASC, and we will show in the following
sections that the subject has to be an ex-
periencer.
(iii) There is a change from accusative to da-
live (3a, 4a), which may change further
to nominative (3b). Some verbs are in a
grey area, allowing both accusative and
dative subjects (4a), but not nominative
(4b), and we note further the possibility
with an the pronoun tað in Faroese (4d).
Turning to DSCs (5a) shows a dative sub-
ject and an accusative object together with
the verb in 3. person singular indicative.
With sorne verbs the dative subject may
take nominative (5b), while nominative is
ruled out in other instances (5d), although
an expletive is allowed (5e). We note also
an example with a dative subject and a
nominative object (5f).
We will look into these changes in the
following sections, listing each impersonal
construction in Faroese, and look into the
nature of the thematic roles, and try to see,